1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

The ongoing detention of Venezuela’s democratically elected president, Nicolás Maduro, represents a dangerous violation of national sovereignty, self-determination, and peace. It is predicated on charges widely discredited as products of right-wing disinformation campaigns, strategically crafted to paint a complex political leader as a simplistic “authoritarian” and “drug trafficker.” We have seen this playbook before. It echoes the fabricated pretexts of the Banana Wars, where U.S. corporate interests dictated regime change in Latin America. It mirrors the false WMD narratives that led to the catastrophic Iraq War. Today, we rightly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an illegal violation of sovereignty. We must hold ourselves to the same standard. Detaining a foreign head of state sets a perilous global precedent. It is an act of coercive intervention that fuels instability, hurts the Venezuelan people, and undermines American moral authority. We call on you to: 1. Publicly demand the immediate release of President Maduro. 2. Reject interventionist policies that destabilize Latin America. 3. Advocate for diplomacy and respectful international dialogue. The path forward must be built on diplomacy, not detention; on sovereignty, not subversion. It is time to end this cycle of intervention and choose peace.